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Just hearing about all of you still harvesting fresh veggies is giving me quite the itch to get started on building my first gardens so I can start right away in early spring. I was VERY intrigued by Boffer's wicking box SFG and did a bit of online research about them...though there isn't much out there on them and most are called cistern gardens. But got me thinking...what if I make all my SFG's into wicking boxes??? I am AWFUL about watering correctly and am getting a bit dizzy trying to think if I'll remember which plants needs what kind of watering at which point during it's growth. Plus...we had a pretty "bi-polar" summer.

Though I want to do more, I'll probably just start with a few smaller beds (2'x8' by the fence). Questions I have: Besides needing to baby the seedlings, would all plants get what they need from a wicking bed...if I mulch well on top & keep water full underneath? Will it help or hinder warming the bed in the spring for early planting? (I know I could poor hot water in the bottom, but doubt I'll be intalling a heating element to keep it warm...for now) Even if I cover the bottom of the plant box w/ plastic on both sides to protect it from water damage, how long do you think it will be able to hold up? Could I add my compost tea/fish emulsion to the cistern or should I still use that on top?

So, I may be getting in over my head here...but thought it would be so neat to try.

This has been THE single most rewarding thing I have done for myself to date. (not counting having children..and sometimes I waffle on how rewarding that actually is! LOL Just kidding!)

Mel's Mix will help with watering simply because it holds moisture very well. I found my sporadic watering caused my tomatoes to get brown rings on them and beyond that I didn't see terrible results that stemmed from me being new and not well versed on watering methods.

I am going to do self watering containers for my tomatoes next year to solve that problem...

Enjoyment in SFG is found in so many aspects you really can't go wrong trying what your heart desires.

I personally wouldn't make every box a wicking box...but that's me..and the beauty of this is there is more than one way to do all of it!

I started with four 4X4 boxes this past year and we are doubling this spring...bring on over my head!

@davidclubb wrote:Here's an interesting modificatin to the wicking box. Someone could build an insulated wicking box that keeps the water at a steady temp year round.

I was actually thinking that might be something to build on in the future if I like how this works. I was thinking I could possibly use a pond heater during the winter as I've heard some people use in their outside worm bins. I think there are even some that run on solar power...so that would be just perfect! Hmmm...will have to look into this more.